Introduction

In the fifth episode of Literary Canon Ball we discuss Valeria Luiselli's Sidewalks.

First published in Mexico in 2010 before being translated into English in 2013, Sidewalks is a collection of essays that explores the places, both real and imagined, that shape our lives.

From a cemetery in Venice, to a Map Library in the National Metrological Service building in Mexico to our bookshelves, this collection is philosophical and funny, perceptive and unaffected, a meandering collection of words that take you to some surprising places.

Luiselli was named one of the twenty best Mexican writers under forty. And, according to Granta, Sidewalks 'cements Luiselli's reputation as one of Latin America's most original, smart and exciting new literary voices'.